The present watch is one of the exceedingly rare timepieces made for the Persian market to appear in public to date. Its unusual silver gilt or vermeil dial is embellished with a punched decoration and centered by a floral motif, presumably the rose of Shiraz, the national flower of Persia. Its covers were originally made of rock crystal, replaced at some point during its over three decades of existence by glass, a common occurence with these early timepieces.

The movement is signed P. Lagisse, most likely for Pierre Didier Lagisse, member of a the well-known Lagisse dynasty of watchmakers active in Geneva in the 17th and 18th century. Pierre Didier Lagisse had settled in Isfahan, where he became watchmaker and advisor to the Shah, rendering him considerable wealth.

This watch is moreover among the earliest surviving examples made in Geneva with a balance spring. The rarity is further enhanced by a going arbor instead of the better known fusée. When Christiaan Huygens (1629-1693) applied the spiral spring to the balance of a watch in 1675 it brought enormous improvement to time keeping. Minutes could now be reliably indicated on both watches and clocks.

Another watch by Pierre Didier Lagisse made for the Persian market, circa 1675, is illustrated in: Peter Friess, Patek Philippe Museum, The Emergence of the Portable Watch, Vol. III, The First Exports to the East, p. 101, Inventory S-179.